Challenges
Datasets
Workspaces
Papers
Discussions
Leaderboard
Log inSign up
Challenges
Datasets
Workspaces
Papers
Discussions
Leaderboard
Blog
Job Board
Q3AS

© 2026 Aqora Quantum S.A.S.

TermsPrivacyLegal Notice

Decoherence in the quantum walk on the line: I - Measurements

A. Romanelli, R. Siri, Gonzalo Abal, A. Auyuanet, R. Donangelo

Published Mar 26, 2004• 2 citations
OpenAlex

Abstract

We investigate the quantum walk on the line when decoherence is introduced through simultaneous measurements of the chirality and the particle position. This decoherence drives the system to a classical diffusive behavior, for which we have obtained analytical expressions for its diffusion coefficient. We show that this coefficient is proportional to the variance of the initially localized quantum random walker just before the first measurement. Through an association of the measurement processes to the collisions in Brownian motion, we show that this treatment provides a smooth connection between the pure classical and quantum limits.

Related papers

Non-Markovian decoherent quantum walks

Peng Xue, Yongsheng Zhang

Quantum walks act in obviously different ways from their classical counterparts, but decoherence will lessen and close this gap between them. To understand this process, it is necessary to investigate the evolution of quantum walks under different decoherence situations. In this article, we study a non-Markovian decoherent quantum walk on a line. In a short time regime, the behavior of the walk deviates from both ideal quantum walks and classical random walks. The position variance as a measure of the quantum walk collapses and revives for a short time, and tends to have a linear relation with time. That is, the walker's behavior shows a diffusive spread over a long time limit, which is caused by non-Markovian dephasing affecting the quantum correlations between the quantum walker and his coin. We also study both quantum discord and measurement-induced disturbance as measures of the quantum correlations, and observe both collapse and revival in the short time regime, and the tendency to be zero in the long time limit. Therefore, quantum walks with non-Markovian decoherence tend to have diffusive spreading behavior over long time limits, while in the short time regime they oscillate between ballistic and diffusive spreading behavior, and the quantum correlation collapses and revives due to the memory effect.

arXiv:1203.5630•Chinese Physics B•Jul 1, 2013•13 citations

Quantum random walks with decoherent coins

Todd A. Brun, Hilary A. Carteret, Andris Ambainis

The quantum random walk has been much studied recently, largely due to its highly nonclassical behavior. In this paper, we study one possible route to classical behavior for the discrete quantum walk on the line: the presence of decoherence in the quantum ``coin'' which drives the walk. We find exact analytical expressions for the time dependence of the first two moments of position, and show that in the long-time limit the variance grows linearly with time, unlike the unitary walk. We compare this to the results of direct numerical simulation, and see how the form of the position distribution changes from the unitary to the usual classical result as we increase the strength of the decoherence.

arXiv:quant-ph/0210180•Physical Review A•Mar 14, 2003•155 citations

Limiting distribution of decoherent quantum random walks

Kai Zhang

The behavior of one-dimensional quantum random walks is strikingly different from that of classical ones. However, when decoherence is involved, the limiting distributions take on many classical features over time. In this paper, we study the decoherence on both position and ``coin'' spaces of the particle. We propose an analytical approach to investigate these phenomena and obtain the generating functions which encode all the features of these walks. Specifically, from these generating functions, we find exact analytic expressions of several moments for the time and noise dependence of position. Moreover, the limiting position distributions of decoherent quantum random walks are shown to be Gaussian in an analytical manner. These results explicitly describe the relationship between the system and the level of decoherence.

arXiv:0804.4311•Physical Review A•Jun 2, 2008•22 citations

Incoherent tunneling effects in a one-dimensional quantum walk

Mostafa Annabestani, Seyed Javad Akhtarshenas, Mohamad Reza Abolhassani

Abstract In this article we investigate the effects of shifting position decoherence, arising from the incoherent tunneling effect in the experimental realization of the quantum walk, on the one-dimensional discrete time quantum walk. We show that in the regime of this type of noise the quantum behavior of the walker does not vanish, in contrast to the coin decoherence for which the walker undergoes a quantum-to-classical transition even for weak noise. In particular, we show that the quadratic dependence of the variance on the time and also the coin–position entanglement, i.e. two important quantum aspects of the coherent quantum walk, are preserved in the presence of tunneling decoherence. Furthermore, we present an explicit expression for the probability distribution of the decoherent one-dimensional quantum walk in terms of the corresponding coherent probabilities, and show that this type of decoherence smooths the probability distribution.

arXiv:1004.4352•Journal of Physics A Mathematical and Theoretical•Feb 2, 2016•10 citations

Quantum to Classical Transition for Random Walks

Todd A. Brun, Hilary A. Carteret, Andris Ambainis

We look at two possible routes to classical behavior for the discrete quantum random walk on the integers: decoherence in the quantum "coin" which drives the walk, or the use of higher-dimensional (or multiple) coins to dilute the effects of interference. We use the position variance as an indicator of classical behavior and find analytical expressions for this in the long-time limit; we see that the multicoin walk retains the "quantum" quadratic growth of the variance except in the limit of a new coin for every step, while the walk with decoherence exhibits "classical" linear growth of the variance even for weak decoherence.

arXiv:quant-ph/0208195•Physical Review Letters•Sep 25, 2003•187 citations

Extraordinary behaviors in a two-dimensional decoherent alternative quantum walk

Tian Chen, Xiangdong Zhang

We reveal the quantum and classical behaviors of the two-dimensional (2D) alternative quantum walk (AQW) in the presence of decoherence. For different kinds of decoherence, the analytic expressions for the moments of position distribution of the AQW are obtained. Taking the broken line noise and coin decoherence as examples of decoherence, we find that when decoherence emerges in only one direction, the anisotropic position distribution pattern appears, and not all the motions of the walker exhibit the transition from quantum to classical behaviors. Considering the effect of decoherence, we reveal the anisotropic correlations between the $x\phantom{\rule{0.28em}{0ex}}(y)$ position of the 2D walker and the state of the coin in 2D AQWs.

arXiv:1601.06483•Physical Review A•Jul 11, 2016•19 citations
We investigate the quantum walk on the line when decoherence is introduced through simultaneous measurements of the chirality and the particle position. This decoherence drives the system to a classical diffusive behavior, for which we have obtained analytical expressions for its diffusion coefficient. We show that this coefficient is proportional to the variance of the initially localized quantum random walker just before the first measurement. Through an association of the measurement processes to the collisions in Brownian motion, we show that this treatment provides a smooth connection between the pure classical and quantum limits.
Quantum walks act in obviously different ways from their classical counterparts, but decoherence will lessen and close this gap between them. To understand this process, it is necessary to investigate the evolution of quantum walks under different decoherence situations. In this article, we study a non-Markovian decoherent quantum walk on a line. In a short time regime, the behavior of the walk deviates from both ideal quantum walks and classical random walks. The position variance as a measure of the quantum walk collapses and revives for a short time, and tends to have a linear relation with time. That is, the walker's behavior shows a diffusive spread over a long time limit, which is caused by non-Markovian dephasing affecting the quantum correlations between the quantum walker and his coin. We also study both quantum discord and measurement-induced disturbance as measures of the quantum correlations, and observe both collapse and revival in the short time regime, and the tendency to be zero in the long time limit. Therefore, quantum walks with non-Markovian decoherence tend to have diffusive spreading behavior over long time limits, while in the short time regime they oscillate between ballistic and diffusive spreading behavior, and the quantum correlation collapses and revives due to the memory effect.
The quantum random walk has been much studied recently, largely due to its highly nonclassical behavior. In this paper, we study one possible route to classical behavior for the discrete quantum walk on the line: the presence of decoherence in the quantum ``coin'' which drives the walk. We find exact analytical expressions for the time dependence of the first two moments of position, and show that in the long-time limit the variance grows linearly with time, unlike the unitary walk. We compare this to the results of direct numerical simulation, and see how the form of the position distribution changes from the unitary to the usual classical result as we increase the strength of the decoherence.
The behavior of one-dimensional quantum random walks is strikingly different from that of classical ones. However, when decoherence is involved, the limiting distributions take on many classical features over time. In this paper, we study the decoherence on both position and ``coin'' spaces of the particle. We propose an analytical approach to investigate these phenomena and obtain the generating functions which encode all the features of these walks. Specifically, from these generating functions, we find exact analytic expressions of several moments for the time and noise dependence of position. Moreover, the limiting position distributions of decoherent quantum random walks are shown to be Gaussian in an analytical manner. These results explicitly describe the relationship between the system and the level of decoherence.
Abstract In this article we investigate the effects of shifting position decoherence, arising from the incoherent tunneling effect in the experimental realization of the quantum walk, on the one-dimensional discrete time quantum walk. We show that in the regime of this type of noise the quantum behavior of the walker does not vanish, in contrast to the coin decoherence for which the walker undergoes a quantum-to-classical transition even for weak noise. In particular, we show that the quadratic dependence of the variance on the time and also the coin–position entanglement, i.e. two important quantum aspects of the coherent quantum walk, are preserved in the presence of tunneling decoherence. Furthermore, we present an explicit expression for the probability distribution of the decoherent one-dimensional quantum walk in terms of the corresponding coherent probabilities, and show that this type of decoherence smooths the probability distribution.
We look at two possible routes to classical behavior for the discrete quantum random walk on the integers: decoherence in the quantum "coin" which drives the walk, or the use of higher-dimensional (or multiple) coins to dilute the effects of interference. We use the position variance as an indicator of classical behavior and find analytical expressions for this in the long-time limit; we see that the multicoin walk retains the "quantum" quadratic growth of the variance except in the limit of a new coin for every step, while the walk with decoherence exhibits "classical" linear growth of the variance even for weak decoherence.
We reveal the quantum and classical behaviors of the two-dimensional (2D) alternative quantum walk (AQW) in the presence of decoherence. For different kinds of decoherence, the analytic expressions for the moments of position distribution of the AQW are obtained. Taking the broken line noise and coin decoherence as examples of decoherence, we find that when decoherence emerges in only one direction, the anisotropic position distribution pattern appears, and not all the motions of the walker exhibit the transition from quantum to classical behaviors. Considering the effect of decoherence, we reveal the anisotropic correlations between the x(y)x\phantom{\rule{0.28em}{0ex}}(y)x(y) position of the 2D walker and the state of the coin in 2D AQWs.